


As we sink into the open sea

by Cottonee



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, Angst, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Minor Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slight gender dysphoria, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-03 13:24:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10968144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cottonee/pseuds/Cottonee
Summary: It’s been several years since the beginning of the Kaiju war and countless lives had been lost. With the surface of stronger Kaiju and the decline of the Jaeger program, humanity fights for its survival.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> It's been a while since I posted something but I really wanted to participate in this event, so here I am.  
> Hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it!  
> Thanks to [verystrongarms](http://verystrongarms.tumblr.com/) ([egg_oeuf](http://archiveofourown.org/users/egg_oeuf)) for all their help as a beta and thanks to [prunormis](http://prunormis.tumblr.com) for the [amazing art](http://prunormis.tumblr.com/post/161138497545/heres-my-art-for-the-hetalia-big-bang-2017-the).  
> Title from Of Monsters and Men's "We Sink"

Some used to say that the world was going to end in fire, others said in ice.

The truth is that the world ended with alien beasts as tall as skyscrapers emerging from the bottom of the ocean, destroying cities and killing millions.

They called the monsters _Kaiju_ , a fitting name that meant Giant beast. The Kaiju appeared from a fissure at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, between two tectonic plates, at the southern end of Mariana’s trench, around eleven thousand meters below surface.

The first attack arrived at San Francisco in a day otherwise ordinary, but later would be known as K-DAY. The deafening screams of the terrified population were almost as loud as the gunfire and heavy artillery that the army used to take down the creature.

At first, the occurrences were sparse and random, with not only big cities as targets but also small villages that were forgotten until it was too late. Entire towns were annihilated and the efforts of the governments seemed futile even when the best soldiers were sent to the battlefront armed with the most modern equipment.

As the number of the deceased increased non-stop, it was clear that the world was in need of a better defensive system to face the imminent danger.

The solution was to ‘create a monster to fight a monster’. Beasts arose; beasts with metallic limbs brought to life by their nuclear reactor cores. They were giant, big enough to battle the Kaiju and piloted by two people, one for each brain hemisphere. The Jaeger Program.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, after all. A complicated project that needed funding, investors, hundreds of the best scientists and engineers in the world, and lots of trials and mistakes, most of the experiments were rushed as time was a partner in crime against humanity. In a relatively short time, the Jaeger program turned out to be a success as a Jaeger was able to take down a Kaiju in an hour or two, and for the united forces of tanks, missiles and aircrafts that task could take many days.

Jaegers pilots were given the highest honor and became some of the most famous and influential personalities in the world. Rangers from the entire Pacific were invited to appear in talk shows and parades to honor their triumphs all around the world. The once feared Kaiju became action figures that children asked for Christmas and a multitude of young adults prepared themselves to enlist in the Jaeger Academy to become heroes themselves.

Even when attacks were becoming more and more frequent, the world found peace and some sense of order. Cities were slowly rebuilt as the Jaegers kept the Kaiju at bay, away from the coasts and the civilians while, workforces edified impressive walls as a secondary security mean, the Wall of Life Program.

Surprisingly, the attacks simply stopped one day.

Humanity celebrated its victory with exuberant festivities, grandiose parades and great spectacles that reenacted fierce oceanside battles.

Unfortunately, the future wasn’t as bright as everyone hoped it to be. Without warning, the Kaiju returned—bigger, stronger and smarter than ever, seeking destruction and bringing terror.

Everyone was expecting to be saved again by the Rangers that saved them the first time, but the awaited Jaeger comeback never arrived. With Kaiju more capable to fight and anticipate attacks, Jaegers fell like flies to the bottom of the ocean along with their pilots and the walls that once gave hope to the people living behind them were destroyed as if they were made of paper and not of steel and concrete.

As the massive annihilation continued, less and less people volunteered to be a part of the barely alive Jaeger program and only about 20% of the recruits finished their training to become Jaeger pilots.

The representatives of the twenty-one member states of the Pan Pacific Defense Corps discussed the future of the Jaeger program. In the end, they decided to give the program one last chance but they still needed people willing to work as pilots or in another of the departments to specialize in, like in Kaiju-science focused on determining Kaiju category and predicting their attacks or in Jaeger-tech to work on Jaeger’s maintenance and programming to improve its in battle performance.

That was when the PPDC made an announcement. The Jaeger program was to receive the biggest funding from the International Bank since its creation in a last and desperate attempt to stand a chance in the Kaiju war as well, citizens from all around the world, were encouraged to enlist as future officers and rangers.

The Jaeger Academy, created with the purpose of preparing future rangers and officials to serve on the PPDC, was bursting with life as the new recruits arrived, ready to prepare themselves in the different areas that they chose. The increase in the number of aspiring rangers, engineers, J-Techs and K-scientists created a small spark of hope that spread like wildfire.

Sadly, stopping the end of the world wasn’t as simple as that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. ♡ :)  
> The rest will be posted soon!  
> Also feel free to talk to me on [Twitter](http://twitter.com/DiinkyLiinky) and [Tumblr](http://aph-suecia.tumblr.com).


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Names I'll use:  
> Denmark → Magnus  
> Norway → Sigurd  
> Taiwan → Mei

It’s been two whole years, three months and fourteen days since the announcement to save the Jaeger Program took the world by surprise. Nowadays, the Jaeger Academy and the whole Pan Pacific Defense Corps are almost as dead as the pilots that had given their lives trying to win the Kaiju war. However, the Walls of Life had fallen a while ago and the remaining Jaegers are the only source of optimism for the world.

In the whole world, there are only six remaining Jaegers to face the fervent danger of Kaiju, distributed between the six Shatterdomes that still function—Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Vladivostok, Tokyo, Sydney, and Panama—according to the recurrence of attacks near the bases.

Magnus regards the wall of that surrounds Shanghai. The structure is about eighty meters tall, the once acclaimed border is now covered in angry graffiti of various Chinese characters and Kaiju drawings. A portion of it remains utterly destroyed, a job made by a category four that made quick work of a Jaeger before doing the same to the wall.

A big part of the Baoshan District still bears the aftermaths of the destruction. The area is mostly abandoned now—skyscrapers half demolished, ships in the middle of the avenues and charred portions of the pavement are some of the war marks that the once lively city displays mournfully.

The terrified screams of the ones they failed to protect keep ringing in his ears like ghosts that cling to his skin and don’t let go. That occurred during their third mission, which also happened to be their first time not acting in the second line of attack.

The Chinese Jaeger known as the _Emerald Dragon_ was having problems containing the Kaiju codenamed _Hookfangs_. They sent an alert when the Kaiju had already crossed the Miracle Mile and it was moving in the wall’s direction.

The announcement was sent to Tokyo and Vladivostok, Shanghai’s closest Shatterdomes, both at a distance of three hours by air transportation.

Magnus and Sigurd prepared to go to the battle as soon as they received the order and in minutes they were traveling to China. The things were complicated for _Emerald Dragon_ ’s pilots and when the help was halfway there, the Kaiju’s fangs found their way into the Conn-Pod, and it was already pushing the Jaeger below the waves. Both pilots were declared dead after they spent ten minutes under water with no response of either of them or any escape pods appearing on the surface.

_Hookfangs_ then attacked the Wall of Life, tearing the concrete apart with its powerful fangs and claws. Barely an hour later, the opening on the wall was big enough for the Kaiju to cross without a problem.

_Radiant Amaterasu,_ the Japanese Jaeger _,_ was the first one to arrive, but their attempts to lure the Kaiju away from the city were futile. The beast was unstoppable and the Japanese pilots adopted a defensive stance until the Nordic pair arrived.

The fight has not been an easy one.

The Kaiju slammed the Jaegers against skyscrapers, causing great damage to the buildings. In return, Magnus made sure to stab the Kaiju repeatedly with the chain sword and the _Radiant Amaterasu_ ’s pilots did their best to divert the monster’s attention.

In the end, the Kaiju was dead, but so was a portion of the Baoshan District’s port. It’s been a year but it feels like it had been yesterday.

“Magnus,” a hand touches his shoulder and he turns to face his companion “Time to return.”

He just nods to his copilot and together, they return to the helicopter that waits to take them to Tokyo, Japan.

For Magnus, risking his life in a fight with no winning granted is not how he expected to spend his life when he was younger, but plans change when there’s an invasion of bloodthirsty aliens.

He wasn’t one of the first volunteers from a non-pacific country but after the fall of the first Nordic pilots and the utter destruction of the _Fearless Aurora_ by a huge category five Kaiju, he enlisted as a recruit to become a pilot of the new Jaeger financed by the Nordic Council, not entirely sure of his motivation to do so.

Maybe he wanted to prove himself as a useful person, maybe he wanted to live for the daily thrill and danger, most likely he wanted to die inside a Jaeger instead of waiting for the monsters to finally get to Denmark and kill him there in his home but the selfish part of him _knew_ that he wanted to be known as a hero.

He accomplished his goal after finishing the twenty-four-week training and he was assigned to a Jaeger as soon as its ensemble finished.

Finding a copilot was an entirely different problem. He tried with cadets from all around the world, unable to find a balance to keep their neural handshake working for more than a couple of minutes. More than once he ended up in the infirmary after a trial and he was about to be labeled as inadequate for a pilot when Sigurd Thomassen was sent into the simulator with him and the rest is history.

Sigurd has been Magnus’s partner since about a year and a half ago. Their drift compatibility was great considering their contrary personalities, the fact that Magnus was the first and only person that has drifted with Sigurd and the numerous attempts that resulted in failure when Magnus tried to create a neural bridge with anyone else, so it was maybe true that opposites attract.

Their Jaeger, _Ragnarök Echo_ , is a Mark-5 with golden details along its black metal body. A fast Jaeger armed with a plasma cannon, a retractile chain sword and a chest launcher for a half dozen of missiles. Its emblem displays Fenrir, the wolf destined to break free from captivity on the day of Ragnarök and eat Odin, the King of Gods. It isn’t as tall as the other Jaegers—standing at just seventy meters tall—but that fact also makes it easy to maneuver, something highly appreciated in the occasions when Kaijus advance until the mainland and moving between skyscrapers and other buildings becomes a necessity.

But sometimes that wasn’t enough.

“Stop thinking so hard,” Sigurd says when they board the helicopter like he can read his thoughts and who knows, maybe _he actually can_ , the ghost drift linking them when their brains are not connected sometimes gets a little bit too bothersome and strange.

“It’s nothing,” Magnus replies with a shrug like it’s not important, even when he knows that Sigurd won’t believe his answer at all.

Both Rangers put on their helmets and the helicopter takes off.

“It was not your fault,” Sigurd speaks again through the intercom when the Baoshan District is being left behind.

The sun is setting down and it casts a soft orange glow onto the ruins of the city. Some of the light enters the helicopter’s window, making the sharp angles of Sigurd face look softer. The hairpin that keeps his locks away from his face glints softly.

“If I’d only been faster,” Magnus whispers and that earns him a smack on the arm.

“I was there too,” Sigurd hisses back. “The Kaiju had already destroyed the wall and it was too late to do something other than what we did.”

“Still, it took us almost an hour to take down that beast plus the time it took us to arrive.”

“We were in Russia,” Sigurd remarks. “We arrived as soon as we could, as soon as we received the alert.”

“I wish we were closer,” Magnus looks to the window again. The city now looks distant as the sea fills the horizon. It’s dark, a stark contrast to the lights of the disappearing Chinese nightscape.

“You shouldn’t have requested to return here.”

Magnus just shakes his head but doesn’t say anything else for the rest of the flight.

**o o o**

_“You’re transferring to Tokyo for the moment,” The Marshal in charge of the Shatterdome had said. He was a middle-aged man with a permanent severe expression on his face that got even colder when it was time to assign missions to kill Kaiju._

_“Yes, sir,” Magnus had answered immediately, knowing that refusing was not an option._

_“Attacks in southern Asia have been more frequent nowadays and it’s difficult to contain them with just one Jaeger now that_ Radiant Amaterasu is _temporally out of commission.”_

_“What about here? Will one Jaeger be enough?” Magnus had asked, his emotions betraying him as he was worried and maybe a little bit too attached to the Vladivostok Shatterdome in which he has spent all his time since he was a recruit. The idea of leaving the base was a little sad, even when the Russian pilots rarely talk to him._

_“Yes, during the latest months, reports indicate that there has been a decrease in attacks in the Northern Pacific and right now we need reinforcements in the South where attacks have increased,” The Marshal explained. ”Also it’s not a permanent change, most likely you’ll be back when_ Radiant Amaterasu _is ready to function again.”_

_Magnus got dismissed afterward and he walked to his and Sigurd’s room to announce the news._

_His copilot didn’t say a thing at first, he just nodded and continued to read a book that he had already read a thousand times. Unlike him, Sigurd never saw the Shatterdome as something relatively close to a home. He didn’t like to talk about his life before the Jaeger Academy but Magnus had seen the passing memories inside his brain, has held him while he vented about his teenage years, and he knows that having a home or a place to belong had been difficult for Sigurd since the first Kaiju attack more than a decade ago._

_If the newest order had bothered Sigurd he didn’t let it show and he acted like everything was the same. He still woke up at his usual time about thirty minutes after Magnus, he still showed up to training punctually despite his oversleeping habits and still ignored his own bed to crawl under Magnus’ covers to sleep by his side._

_Meanwhile, Magnus tried to socialize with the Russian rangers and staff as much as he could before their imminent depart with little success. Most of the technicians spoke as much English as Magnus Russian and talking to Ivan was both disheartening and unnerving, especially when the Russian ranger would express his darker thoughts about so-and-so mission with his ever-present smile. Psyches him out. Ivan’s sisters Natalya and Katya weren’t very communicative and it was difficult to find a subject of conversation aside from the trivial comments about the news that sometimes were too morbid to even mention, even with Ivan, within the Shatterdome walls._

_One week after the announcement, they packed all their scarce belongings and boarded the helicopter especially sent for them to take them to Japan, and Magnus refused to look back, even when a feeling in his gut told him that it was going to be last time he saw the Russian Shatterdome._

**o o o**

The Japanese Shatterdome doesn’t look as intimidating and cold as the Russian one, even when it’s a little bigger. Maybe, the fact that there are definitely more people in Tokyo than in Vladivostok is what makes the place seem livelier.

A petite girl with long dark hair with a flower pin between the tresses receives them at the main entry.

“Welcome to the Tokyo Shatterdome you can call me Mei,” She bows and out of courtesy, Magnus and Sigurd imitate her gesture. “I’m a J-Tech here and I’ll show you some of the most important rooms in the base and your dormitories if you follow me.”

The big door closes behind them with a hiss as soon as they enter the building. Inside the illumination is better than in Russia, and the signs written in Cyrillic that they had come to recognize, are replaced by unknown Japanese characters.

“I’ll give you a quick tour of the Shatterdome, you were supposed to arrive earlier and right now it’s almost dinner time so we must hurry to arrive on time to the cafeteria,” Mei speaks again and turns to the left into a narrower corridor. “I suppose that you would like to see the hangar first. Your Jaeger and half of your team arrived this morning.”

Mei stops in front of a panel at the end of the hall and enters a code to open the door before them.

The hangar is big and filled with sounds of people working hitting rivets, welding big metal plates. The Jaeger in front of them is not theirs but the German one, the _Edge Horizon_ , a bigger Jaeger than _Ragnarök Echo_ , bulkier and stronger, designed to take down Kaiju while they’re still on the sea with brute force. Around it, a handful of people dressed up in green clothes work to ensure that is ready for the next battle.

Mei continues walking to the right, to the next section of the hangar and there it is, their _Ragnarök Echo_ , standing tall and proud. There are a handful of their team members, the ones that arrived early—wearing the black jacket and pants with the emblem of their Jaeger in golden hues decorating the clothes—, working along with mechanics from other teams to replenish the Jaeger’s weapons, which had been emptied for safety reasons before its transportation from Russia.

“From here you can see the Radiant Amaterasu,” Mei signals to the end of the hangar where a Jaeger, missing its right arm, is surrounded by scaffolds and mechanics and is half covered by black plastic. “Hopefully it’ll be ready to get back to work in a month.”

“How long it’s been already since the attack? Two, three months?” Magnus asks, regarding the Jaeger. It looks weirdly incomplete, especially with the arm missing.

“Two months indeed,” Mei confirms and she twirls a lock of her long hair. “Do you want to continue, I’ll show you your room and maybe after dinner I’ll show, the rest of the Shatterdome?”

“Sure,” Magnus answers and follows the woman as she exits the hangar.

Mei guides them to a short passageway that opens in the middle of the corridor that gets to the hangar, then to another one to the right.

“To get to the suiting rooms, you go that way,” Mei informs them when they pass by another door.

The next corridor to the left is larger than the last two and there are several doors on it, each one corresponding to what Magnus supposes is a bedroom. In Russia, the dormitories were far from their suiting room and the hangar, and they got used to running as fast as they could to get into their Jaeger on time, so Magnus thinks the Tokyo Shatterdome is more convenient in terms of placement.

“This is your room,” Mei stops in front of a door that looks exactly like the other ones aside from the number plate placed on it. “Room 36, you can go inside and leave your bags.”

“Thank you, we will,” Magnus smiles and moves to push the door open.

Inside it looks nothing like their room back in Vladivostok. It’s small but the wooden floor and the floral bedsheets make the chamber look cozy considering that it’s placed inside a military base.

“All the rooms have a _genkan_ on it,” Mei explains before any of them can move to enter the room and they both notice, for the first time, the small tiled area that is slightly lower than the rest of the floor, “These are traditional Japanese entryway areas to take out your shoes. Over there you have a _getabako_ , a cabinet to store your shoes and slippers for indoors.”

“This is definitely different to Russia, but we will make a point to remember your instructions,” Magnus speaks again. Mei seems pleased by his response.

“That’s good to hear! I arrived here a year ago and at first, it was difficult,” Mei replies, smiling. “I’ll give you time to install yourselves and I’ll be back in twenty minutes to take you to the cafeteria. There you can eat dinner and meet more occupants of the Shatterdome.”

“That sounds really nice, thank you.” With that Mei leaves and Magnus closes the door.

Sigurd is already undoing the laces of his shoes when Magnus turns to look at him and to his disapproval, Sigurd just kicks his sneakers off, lets his duffel bag fall to the floor and walks to throw himself face first to the bed.

“I’ll take that and your lack of enthusiasm as an indicator that you don’t like here,” Magnus says and makes a move to take off his shoes too.

The response he gets is just a groan muffled by the pillow.

“We will get used to this place.”

“It’s not about that,” Sigurd speaks for the first time since they got out of the helicopter.

“Then what is it?” Magnus sits on the bed. It’s softer than he expected.

“I’m just a bit tired. You know that I always get tired after traveling.”

Magnus sighs, placing his hand over Sigurd’s to stroke his knuckles. He knows that his partner is not being completely honest but he decides to give it time.

“Just know that before anything else, we’re best friends and you can tell me anything,” Sigurd nods and rolls on the bed to lie on his back.

Magnus smiles at him a smile and bends down to nuzzle Sigurd’s neck.

“Your hair will get even more tousled,” Sigurd complains, but there’s a small smile on his lips.

Magnus responds by reaching down to ruffle Sigurd’s hair with his fingers until his copilot smacks his hand away and Magnus laughs.

Sigurd stands from the bed and moves to where his duffle bag lays on the floor. He pulls out the black jacket part of their Jaeger’s team uniform, which quickly took the place of the heavy coat they wore in Russia. Magnus imitates his partner, throwing his coat to the bed.

They spend the remaining minutes unpacking their clothes and watching TV before Mei knocks on their door.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. ♡ :)  
> The rest will be posted soon!  
> Also feel free to talk to me on [Twitter](http://twitter.com/DiinkyLiinky) and [Tumblr](http://aph-suecia.tumblr.com).


End file.
